Roof racks for vehicles are during use exposed to very harsh environmental conditions such as rain, snow, wind, dirt and the like. They are further expected to withstand a high amount of crash violence, e.g. from a colliding vehicle. These requirements impede restrictions to the materials selected, the shape and the form of the roof rack and its components.
A roof rack generally has a first and a second load carrier foot and a load carrying bar extending there between. It is important that the load carrier feet are mounted and attached correctly to the vehicle roof. Different types of load carrier feet have been developed. One type of load carrier foot is a fix-point load carrier foot. A fix-point load carrier foot uses fixed positions on the vehicle roof to attach the load carrier foot. Usually a nut welded to the vehicle roof, or welded to the vehicle roof chassis, serves as a fixed anchoring point for a fix-point load carrier foot. A draw back with a fix-point load carrier foot is of course the limited amount of available positions at which the load carrier foot can be positioned.
Another type of load carrier foot is a load carrier foot of clamping type. Such a load carrier foot uses clamping force between a support surface and a bracket as main attachment principle. An advantage with this type of load carrier foot is that they can be positioned in a plurality of different positions, generally along a rail arranged on the roof of the vehicle. Load carrier feet of clamping type are however susceptible to some drawbacks. A load carrier foot of clamping type is disclosed in the U.S. Pat. No. 5,492,258, Happich GMBH. One drawback is that they generally tend to use the friction provided by the clamping force to rely on a sturdy attachment to the vehicle rail, or vehicle roof. There is also the risk of a load carrier foot of clamping type not being mounted correctly. The ease of which a load carrier foot can be mounted and the semantics which is projected to a user are important factors to reduce the risk of a user mounting a load carrier foot of clamping type incorrectly.
Further, using tools is considered less favorable when mounting load carrier foots. Tools are not always at hand, and tools further increase the risk of imparting to high amount of torque when tightening, e.g. tightening a screw on a load carrier foot to tight. It is thus advantageous to provide a load carrier foot which can be operated by a user using his/hers hands as a complement or replacement to tools.